Kurds cross Iraqi border to Turkey to seek peace

Turkish Kurds demonstrate in support of Kurdish rebels in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, Oct. 19, 2009. A small group of unarmed Kurdish rebels in combat dress crossed into Turkey from northern Iraq on Monday in a show of support for peace with the Turkish government. Thirty-four Kurds walked across the Iraqi-Turkish Habur border gate, where they were immediately detained by paramilitary police and moved to the headquarters of a nearby military battalion for questioning by four prosecutors, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. The banner reads: "Open the way for peace." (AP Photo/Ibrahim Usta1
— AP

Turkish Kurds demonstrate in support of Kurdish rebels in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, Oct. 19, 2009. A small group of unarmed Kurdish rebels in combat dress crossed into Turkey from northern Iraq on Monday in a show of support for peace with the Turkish government. Thirty-four Kurds walked across the Iraqi-Turkish Habur border gate, where they were immediately detained by paramilitary police and moved to the headquarters of a nearby military battalion for questioning by four prosecutors, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. The banner reads: "Open the way for peace." (AP Photo/Ibrahim Usta1
/ AP

ANKARA, Turkey 
Unarmed Kurdish rebels in combat dress marched into Turkey from northern Iraq on Monday in a show of support for peace with the Turkish government.

The 34 Kurds, including eight rebels, were immediately detained by Turkish paramilitary police after crossing the Iraqi-Turkish border gate at Habur. They were moved to a military battalion's headquarters for questioning by prosecutors, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Earlier, Kurds in northern Iraq celebrated with music and drums as the group left from a refugee camp, Anatolia reported. The eight fighters joined the convoy from a rebel camp in Iraq's Qandil mountains, where Turkey says the leaders of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, are in hiding.

The group was carrying a letter to Turkish officials saying they hoped to make a "modest" contribution to peace with their journey, and listing requests, including an end to military operations against the rebels, according to the pro-Kurdish news agency Firat News.

Other Kurdish demands included allowing Kurdish-language education and ending what they called "pressure and oppression" by security forces in mainly Kurdish villages and cities, the agency said.

Firat published a photograph of the rebels dressed in khaki pants, cummerbunds and combat vests and walking along a northern Iraqi road.

At the border, thousands of Kurds greeted the group on the Turkish side by waving Kurdish flags, singing, dancing and holding up banners calling for peace.

Riot police stood guard, while a helicopter circled overhead. Dozens of lawyers were on hand to assist the group during questioning, Kurdish lawmaker Sabahat Tuncel told the Associated Press.

The PKK – considered a terror organization by the United States and European Union – said its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan had given instructions for "peace groups" to travel to Turkey to promote reconciliation. A second group of rebels, mainly Kurds in exile in Europe, was expected to arrive in Turkey at a later date, Turkish news reports said.

The Turkish government has been working on an initiative to end the conflict, but has yet to release any details.

"We hope this will be the beginning of solving the Kurdish case through dialogue and away from the gun barrels," Bozan Taken, a PKK leader, told the AP by telephone. "We want to show the world that we are with peace and we want peace. The Turkish side has to do the same and to find a radical solution to the Kurdish case."

The rebels have been fighting since 1984 for autonomy for Turkey's Kurds, who make up a fifth of the country's 70 million people and live predominantly in the impoverished southeast. Tens of thousands have died in the conflict.

The PKK have claimed that Turkish nationalists and other opposition parties are blocking the government's peace initiative, and say they hope to encourage the government to continue the process.

Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence on a prison island off Istanbul, leads his group through messages reportedly delivered to fighters by his lawyers.

The rebels traveling to Turkey were selected among fighters who have not been charged with attacking Turkish forces, though five have previously been charged with either making rebel propaganda or membership in a terror organization, Anatolia reported. They all were expected to benefit from a law pardoning rebels not involved in violence.